


Soba ni iru kara

by Kinyth



Series: If It Wasn't You [2]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M, Feudal Japan, Historical, Human Kwami, Samurai, courtesan - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-08
Updated: 2019-06-18
Packaged: 2019-07-08 15:29:32
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,932
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15933290
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kinyth/pseuds/Kinyth
Summary: Grown up in the pleasure district of Kyoto, Duusu is teached to become a Courtesan.Will the young Samurai Nooroo be her savior? Or will she be doomed by trusting him?





	1. Preparation

**Author's Note:**

> This is a little Sidestory to 'If it wasn't you' about Duusu and Nooroo and one of their previous lives in feudal Japan.  
> I had this story in my mind for days now and I'm so glad, that I was finally able to post the first chapter! 
> 
> Thanks to perdita, my beloved pearl, who edited this chapter and helped me to find the red line in my story <3

Duusu vaguely remembered the time shortly after her eighth birthday. Everything was like a dream and she couldn't tell if all of it had really happened like that.

What she certainly knew, however, was that her family had sold her to a brothel in Kyoto's pleasure quarter. There began her training as _Kamuro_ under the hand of an well known Courtesan. But as terrible and scary as her new life was, she was still lucky. The woman, she had been assigned to, was loving and she cared for her entourage very well.

For the _Oiran_ , the high-ranking Courtesans, their escorts were some kind of status symbol. The more elaborate the young girls were dressed and decorated, and the more _Shinzo_ or _Kamuro_ accompanied the Courtesans, the more respected the woman behind them was.

Tsubaki, Duusu's mistress, brought in enough money to afford two more prospective Courtesans besides Duusu. Unlike a _Geisha_ , the _Oiran_ were responsible for their girls. If she didn't earn money, the girls had to stay hungry. If she couldn’t make money for a longer time the young women were resold or even became homeless.

Fortunately, there was enough need for Courtesans at that time. Especially the warriors, who served far away from their family and their farms were happy to get a little carried away by a Courtesan.

However, it was still a long way for Duusu and the other two girls until they had to worry about things like that. They were in the house of their _Oiran_ to learn. Every day they were taught singing and dancing, as well as calligraphy and behavior in public. This included dealing with the clients of the Courtesans, although they still didn't receive their own suitors.

Duusu’s priority tasks were to deal with the things her _Oiran_ couldn’t spend time for between her meetings with the men. And Duusu was glad that so far only the correspondence and some errands were part of her daily tasks.

At first, it wasn’t easy for her to find her way around in a big city like Kyoto. There was little more than a handful of inhabitants in her small hometown, but here life flourished and there were things to discover in every corner. Sometimes more, sometimes less beautiful.

Over the time, her _Oiran_ gave her more orders and the trips to the city got longer. She got to know the neighborhood's people, the traders and residents and after four years she knew almost everyone and everyone knew the friendly girl.

It was again one of those errands that was to determine Duusu's future.

Tsubaki had given the young woman a letter for one of her clients and asked her to deliver it. So she made her way through the lively city.

Chickens cackled in the cages in one corner, a greengrocer was extolling his wares at another corner. When he saw Duusu he started to laugh.

"Hey Duusu-Chan!"

She looked up and saw the man, where she often bought things for breakfast.

"Come here." He waved her over and she followed the request. "This one is for you." With these words, he put an apple in her hand and smiled.

"That's really kind of you, but ..."

"No but! It's for you, so I hope you’ll like it."

She glanced at the apple, uncertainly, but thanked him with a bright smile and a short bow and hurried on.

That her friendly nature and her pretty appearance attracted the attention of a young Samurai, she didn't notice.

The dark-haired had not been in the ranks of the Samurai for a long time, but his attitude and charisma made him respected even at this young age. And if that didn't already caused respect, then it was the Katana he wore at his side.

He couldn't say what it exactly was, but something special about her had caught his attention.

"Nooroo-Dono?", his accountant tore him from his thoughts. He followed the gaze of his master and grinned. "She is pretty, isn’t she? The last time I’ve seen her she was in the entourage of Tsubaki-San. She probably belongs to her. I know she’s easy on the eye, but she’s still merely a girl and it’ll take years before she’ll be debuting. You should keep your hands and eyes off her and search for an older one if your looking for a Courtesan.”

"Tsubaki ...", repeated Nooroo still in thoughts.

The name wasn’t unfamiliar to him, since some of his comrades raved about the woman in whose care the girl was. It would be easy for him to determine if his bookkeeper's guess was true, but he didn't want to attract unnecessary attention. Instead, he visited the pleasure quarter a lot more than before, just to see the young girl.

Months and years passed and the girl gradually became a young woman who turned a lot of men heads and if Nooroo was honest, he also felt attracted to her. In his case, however, it was not just her appearance, but also the aura surrounding her.

There was something about her that he just couldn't put into words, no matter how hard he tried. It was innocent and clear and it felt to him like a missing piece in his life. He wanted to save this special something that fascinated him from getting lost in the daily life of a Courtesan.

It was the reason why he offered to buy Duusu a year before the young woman debuted, but Tsubaki declined his offer. She explained, that she had seen the Samurai before and hadn’t missed his interest in the girl, but Tsubaki wasn’t allowed to sell any of her girls without the consent of her master, and he was strictly against it. He knew what profit he could make with the young women.

Many were just waiting for Tsubaki to tell Duusu to become a Courtesan herself, but the _Oiran_ didn't thought it was necessary to rob the girl’s innocence that early. She wasn’t ready to be a Courtesan.  
It would take another four years, when at the age of sixteen, it was finally time for Duusu to receive her first own customer.

Duusu had known before, that this day would’ve come, but it came faster than she had hoped and today was the day. She had been washed very thoroughly in the morning and she felt as if her skin had been scrubbed off. Duusu had been powdered and perfumed but she still felt an anxiety about what she was more or less forced to do. She should give her body to a stranger today, and the very thought of it turned her stomach.

As they dressed her up and wrapped her in expensive fabrics, prepared for her customer like a pretty gift, she tried to distract herself, but with each stroke of the brush, every cloth she had to put on, her tension increased. A quick tap on her shoulder from one of the _Kamuro_ , that had helped her get dressed, let her know that she was ready. At least her appearance. Inside her, a storm was raging and she was far from being ready for what was about to follow.

 _Calm down._ She said to herself, but the uncertainty increased with each step she took in the direction of the room where the man was waiting for her. She wanted to run away, but she certainly wouldn’t have come far. Not in this clothes and not with these shoes.

Duusu lowered her eyes before the door was opened and she was pushed into the room. "She's ready," Tsubaki announced and left the room backwards with a slight bow before she closed the door behind Duusu.  
  
The young woman still didn't dare to look up. She knew that she was not alone. She could feel the man's presence in the room.

"Don't you want to come over?" Came a calm voice not far from her. For the first time since she’d entered the room, she dared to raise her eyes.

The man sitting across from her was far younger than she had expected. He looked well-groomed and his clothes suggested he could afford more than just a _Shinzo_ like her. Duusu didn't know what to think of the fact that he still had decided to pay for her instead of an experienced Courtesan. Maybe he was here because she was still a virgin.

The stranger motioned her to sit beside him and she followed his request, lowering her eyes again reverently.

"You don't have to be scared. I am not here to take your innocence away from you.”

At first Duusu thought she had misunderstood what he had said. She looked up in surprise.

"But why are you here then?" Her face showed a glimpse of mistrust. She had heard of other women who had been booked by the men only to let their pent-up anger out at them. Was the man next to her also one of those men? He didn't seem like that at all.

To her surprise, he chuckled and got up from the cushion he had sat on. "I bought you from your mistress. You will join my household as of today."

"But ... a _Shinzo_ can not just be sold ..." Duusu protested in surprise, more confused than before but still with reluctance in her voice. Of course you could buy her services, but not just herself.

"Let me tell you that you can buy anything as long as the price is right." It was as if her counterpart had literally read her mind. The young man looked down at her. "Tomorrow after sunrise I will send someone to pick you up. Until then you should have packed your belongings." He turned to leave but Duusu stopped him before he reached the door.

"You haven’t even told me your name..."

Surprised, he looked into her dark eyes, which still couldn't quite believe what just had happened. "My name is Nooroo and I'm glad to welcome you to my house." He indicated a polite bow and disappeared from the room, leaving a still confused and indecisive Duusu behind.

She immediately was joined by the other girls. Of course, they wanted to know why the man had disappeared so quickly and, above all, without doing what he was supposed to do, but shocked as the girl was, she was not capable of a decent answer. She first of all had to understand for herself what had just happened. The fear of what would follow created a lump in her throat.

~~~

The farewell from Tsubaki and the women in her care on the next morning was difficult and she was about to start crying, when her _Oiran_ reminded Duusu that she was a lady and a lady would never let her makeup get ruined by tears, so the girl pulled herself together.

"We'll miss you, Duusu." One of the young _Kamuro_ sniffled and squeezed Duusu one last time before someone helped her into the carriage to take her to her new master.

The drive took a while and the young woman took the opportunity to take a last wistful look over the neighborhood where she had spent so much time. She had loved that place, even though this quarter of the city hadn’t had the best reputation. The people were nice and outgoing and they knew each other, so they helped the other one when needed. Now she would have to get used to a new environment. Would it be easy or would it be troublesome for her?

She didn’t want to leave since Tsubaki had become like a big sister to her and she didn't understand why she had been sold. She felt betrayed and lonely as the carriage brought her farther away from her old home, to a place she’d never seen before. A sigh escaped her lips as she watched the landscape slowly changing.

The vibrant colors of the city gave way to the shimmering green of the rice fields that lined the roadside. A few workers took care of the harvest and Duusu watched them as long as she could, before the dense forest took her sight, forcing her to revert to the thoughts that she had tried to suppress: What would happen to her and why had Nooroo chosen her instead of the other girls?

Questions that would been answered at her new home. That’s what she at least hoped for, while they moved on on their way through the woods.

Almost hidden by nature, on top of a small hill an impressive estate was waiting for them. She had finally reached the destination of their journey and as soon as she had passed the gates of the estate, they closed behind the carriage. Like a trap snapping shut behind her, leaving no way to escape.


	2. Realization

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What if there is no way back?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello folks ;3  
> This chapter was still sitting on my hard drive and I thought I could post it, since it was already done and just waiting to be published.  
> All my love goes to my precious Perdi, who edited this months ago, even when her time was limited.  
> Thank you so much sweetheart <3
> 
> I wasn't sure if I should post that chapter, if I should continue what I started and if I should end it, since I'm currently so busy with so many things that I don't know when to find the time to write. Maybe (MAYBE!!!) I can continue this story after gamescom in August, but that depends a lot on my verve to write again.   
> Thank y'all for staying with me, for giving me kudos and writing nice comments on my fics.   
> <3

A few weeks had passed in which she had been given time to find her place in her new home, but Duusu still hadn’t seen the landlord again. The same evening, when Nooroo had appeared in Tsubaki's house and had bought her, the Daimyo had called for him and had sent him to one of the battlefields where the war raged. At least that was what they had told her here.

Whether Duusu could be happy about it or not, she couldn’t quite tell. Of course she didn’t wish for him to get hurt on the battlefield, but she still couldn’t forgive that man for tearing her away from her family and for taking her to that outlying place. And she still feared the day when he would take what she had been prepared for for so many years.

Duusu had to admit that, apart from the landlord, his employees had given her a warm welcome, easing her first days at her new home and giving her all the time she needed to get to learn everything she had to know. But even with all these kind people around her, the homesickness that burned deep inside her hadn’t ebbed away. It was there, smouldering like a fire that needed just one little spark to ignite.

This homesickness and the strangers around her made it clear from day one that she had to find a way to get back to Kyoto. She didn’t want to stay at a house where she was not at home and where everything was unknown and foreign. She wanted to go back to Tsubaki, even if that meant that she would have to debut as a courtesan.

Since the young woman was one of the few who was able to read and write, she was assigned to take care of the paperwork of the house. She wrote letters and took care of the documents that were later forwarded to Nooroo's accountant. Duusu took advantage of the moments she was alone in the study, to memorize the way back to the city on her master's maps. She knew it was dangerous and risky, but how else could she have made it back to her hometown?

Another week had passed before she disappeared from the estate on a busy day without anyone noticing.

The way back to the city turned out to take much longer than she’d expected. It had taken her just a few hours by carriage to get to Nooroo's house, but now her journey had already taken half the day and yet she still was way away from the rice fields. 

Maybe she got lost in the woods and was on the wrong way? Would she find the route back when she turned around now? But how would the other employees react? 

Sighing, she took a few steps to the side of the road and sank down a tree trunk, not far from the road that wound through the forest, and put her head on her knees. She was tired from the long journey and her feet didn’t want to carry her any further. 

"Just a short break and then I'll go on," she murmured, trying to cheer herself up.

Whenever the young woman heard horses in the distance, she hid in the bushes by the wayside and waited. At this times it wasn’t uncommon for mounted soldiers to move from one city to another, and since Duusu didn’t want to encounter them, she ducked even deeper into her coverage, but the squeal of wheels made her look up. 

A simple cart pulled by an ox drove along the road. The coachman played a song on the shamisen and hummed softly. He was so engrossed in his music that he didn’t even notice when the young girl ran after him and called out for him, waving her hand so he would see her.

"Please wait!" 

Finally he showed a reaction and Duusu sighed relieved as he stopped his cart. The man looked around, confused and surprised to see someone like her out in the middle of the woods. 

“What are you doing here?” He put the shamisen aside and jumped from the coachman's seat. "Are you ok?"

Duusu had not expected the man on the coachman to be so young. He was tall and slender and had blue eyes. Very unusual. Maybe he was a foreigner? She couldn't tell why, but the lighting of the forest gave the tips of his hair a bluish tint and made his appearance almost surreal.

"I need to get to Kyoto, but I think I got lost." She lowered her eyes before she pleadingly looked back up at him.

"Mhh… jump on, I'm on my way to Kyoto anyway, so I can take you with me if you want. As long as you don't mind, that there’s little space in the back, next to the cargo."

Duusu shook her head, thankfully that she hadn't had to walk back to the city. 

After she had laboriously climbed between all the things the man wanted to sell at the market, he gave the ox a signal to move forward, while he continued to play on the instrument.

The calming sound, her long walk before and the rocking of the cart made her sleepy and soon she dozed off. So she didn't even realize that they passed Nooroo and his warriors not far from the capital. The men were on their way home after they’d been away for so many weeks.

At the gates of the city the stranger woke her up. She wished him farewell and made her way to the pleasure district. She would try the estate, maybe she was lucky and Tsubaki was there.

Her former home, however, seemed lonely and dark. In all these years she hadn’t seen it that way and the fear that something had happened and she would never see the other woman reared its ugly head.

Quietly, the young woman sneaked into the backyard, where a door had been unlocked all the time she had been living here. Everything felt suddenly so unfamiliar to her. The house that had been a home for so many people before, was now quiet. The garden seemed neglected and the flowers were slowly fading.

"Tsubaki-san?" She called quietly with a soft knock on the door. She could hear some noises, before someone opened the door. 

"Duusu!?” Tsubaki’s eyes widened in surprise. “What are you doing here? You ... you shouldn’t be here!"

"I don’t understand. Why do you want me to leave? And where are the others? Why aren’t they with you?"

Tsubaki hesitated a moment before sighing and pulling Duusu in.

"Listen to me, Duusu.” Her Oiran grabbed her by her shoulders and the look she gave her was dead serious.  

“I’ve sold you so you could have a better life than I had. Times change and so do I. I can no longer work as a courtesan, I’m getting too old for it. I didn't want you to have nothing to eat because I couldn’t raise enough money anymore and I didn't want you to face the same life as me. It's not always as pretty as it might seem." Tsubaki sighed heavily and looked at the younger girl with sad eyes. "I trust Nooroo-dono and that's why I sold you to him and not to anyone else. He's been following your life for longer than you realize, and I'm sure he wants the best for you. You have to go back to him. This is not the right place for you anymore."

Tsubaki offered to Duusu a shelter for the night, before the girl would need to return to Nooroo's estate the next day.

Around the same time, Duusu learned about the reasons why she got sold, Nooroo arrived at his home. He was immediately struck by the tumult. Before he even was able to get off off his horse, his servants told him, that Duusu had disappeared. They had searched for the girl everywhere, even in the near forest, but she was nowhere to be found. 

Instead of being worried like them, he shook his head with a slight grin on his lips and dismounted. Somewhere deep inside he had expected something like this to happen. Over the years he had learned that Duusu could be stubborn and that she wasn’t afraid of doing things that turned out to be stupid or even dangerous. 

He sighed and told his staff to saddle a horse in the morning, since he thought he knew where the young woman was. He would ride at dawn to arrive in the city by noon. 

Duusu sat huddled beside her Oiran and tugged at her yukata. Both women had talked until the early morning sun came up, when a knock on the front door alarmed Tsubaki. 

"Wait here and stay quiet." She got up and hurried to the door. 

Duusu couldn't hear who the courtesan was talking to, but as her voice came closer again and with her heavier footsteps, she guessed that Tsubaki had let the person in. The door to the living room opened and Duusu saw her Oiran and her new Master Nooroo standing there.

"As I said, she is here and she is fine."

"Thank you Tsubaki-san."

Tsubaki bowed and left Nooroo alone with his servant so he could talk to her. Duusu was still crouched on the floor, arms wrapped around her legs, scowling at the man at the door.

Nooroo sighed and kneeled down in front of her. But Duusu's surprise, the man didn't look as angry as she had expected him to be, rather relieved.

"I was hoping to find you here. When the others told me that you were gone, I assumed you would come here." He slowly shook his head and crossed his arms over his chest. "The others had been worried about you." He had been worried about her.

Duusu hadn’t thought about that. Although she hadn’t wanted to deal that much with the other servants, they had taken good care of her and hadn’t treated her like the stranger she was to them.

What an ignorant fool she’d been. All she had done since she had arrived at his house was being a stubborn little child, while his servants tried to make their home her home too. The realization hit her hard. She didn’t want to be a person like that. 

When she turned her head around, she saw that Nooroo held out his hand to pull her to her feet. 

"Come, we should go home." 

Home. A word she still connected with this place and not his estate, but slowly the awareness crawled into her mind. There was no other home for her anymore than his.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Moonlight](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16351376) by [Perdita X Dream (PerditaAlottachocolate)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/PerditaAlottachocolate/pseuds/Perdita%20X%20Dream)




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